


The Misfit Crew

by dickard23



Series: Misfits [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, F/M, One-Sided Attraction, escaped prisoner, insane asylum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-04-28 03:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 20,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5075455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dickard23/pseuds/dickard23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sozin’s Comet, Azula was sent to a mental hospital, but the doctor is more interested in torturing his patients than he is curing them. Will Azula and the others escape with their lives?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

August 101 AG

One year and 2 days after Sozin’s Comet

> "There’s been a breakout at the asylum. All of the patients escaped."

 

Zuko and Mai just got back from Ember Island. His first year as Fire Lord had been a rough one. Assassins had tried to kill him five times that he knew about. He had calls to step down from the older nobles, his father’s cronies of course.

International relations were more stressful than he had hoped it would be with the calls for large reparations from the Earth Kingdom and the fury from the Water Tribes.

They were upset that most of the people who participated in the waterbender genocides were not only free, but enjoyed lucrative positions in the government. Unfortunately, they came from families that were too important for Zuko to shut out. He could cause a civil war if he tried to bring charges against the offenders.

To make matters even worse, he had a slip of the tongue when he tried to explain this to Chiefs Arnook and Hakoda; instead saying this is Fire Nation business and none of their concern. Both men walked out and suspended negotiations with the Fire Nation, which put them at a standstill when it came to trade routes, fishing posts and dealing with piracy.

He thought they would come back the next day when they had walked out the negotiations, but they actually just got on their ships and went home. He hadn’t seen either of them since and this was a few months ago.

“I needed that vacation,” he told Mai as they got to their bedroom. It was their one-year anniversary (of their new relationship). It had been a national holiday, so he didn’t have to deal with the Council and their complaints about taxes and tariffs and they had enjoyed a relaxing and loving weekend in his remodeled house on Ember Island.

Mai kissed him. “The vacation doesn’t have to end yet.”

They fell to the bed. She wrapped her legs around his hips. He started to pull off her clothes, eager to have her naked and in his arms when there was a loud knock on the door.

“My Lord, I need to speak with you.” It was Jing, the head of security from the asylum. He rarely made house calls.

“Can it wait, Jing?” Zuko figured it couldn’t, but he was hopeful.

“No, my Lord. It cannot.”

Mai straightened up and Zuko let him in. “What’s wrong?”

Jing looked at the ground. He hoped he didn’t get fired for his or worse. “There’s been a breakout at the asylum. All of the patients escaped.”

“AZULA ESCAPED!” he screamed. Flames were coming out of his fingertips and steam out of his ears. He was ready to murder someone.

Jing was terrified. “She along with everyone else. We already started rounding up the inmates. Many couldn’t get very far without their medication. Azula, on the other hand, has vanished without a trace.”

“How could this happen?” Mai questioned.

“It seems that the breakout was very well planned. It happened over a national holiday, so I was gone and all of the new guards (they had the least amount of seniority) were on shift for the 24-hour span. The patients somehow managed to lock all of the guards in one of the cells, and the doctor and nurse hadn’t shown up even though they were supposed to, so no one noticed until the next day that the guards were trapped.”

Zuko couldn’t believe this. The patients were all medicated so that they couldn’t bend. How could the doctor and the nurse just not show up to medicate them? Of course they escaped. If that rat fink doctor had anything to do with this …

“The guards had no food or water for 24 hours, and it is summer, so they were quite delirious when they were found. It took hours to stabilize them well enough to get them to talk. It was only then that we learned everyone was missing, including the doctor and the head nurse.

The guards had no idea how they ended up in the cell. We believe one of the patients must have earthbended them into the cell and then left.

Since they broke out on the best day for them to do so, we must assume at least some of them had a plan to stay gone. No one has seen or heard from your sister since the escape, not even the other patients who voluntarily told us what they knew. She may have left early, before they released all of the other patients, so that she could have a head start.”

“But she was crazy,” Mai insisted. “The doctor said she has made no progress in a year.”

Jing shrugged. “Either she was faking it or someone got her out, but she’s gone baby gone.”

Zuko clutched Jing’s collar with both hands. “I don’t care if you have to search from the Northern Water Tribe to the Southern one, you will find her.”

“If I may, my Lord, I do not have the legal capacity to search all of those places. Actually, I’m only a private security guard. I can’t apprehend anyone off the asylum premises.”

Zuko released him just to say, “Your new job is to find Azula. You will assist the military in any capacity so long as it is legal. Do you understand?”

“Yes my Lord. The other guards are looking for clues as we speak. They are also looking for signs of the doctor and nurse.”

“They still haven’t been found?” Mai questioned.

“No. We have no idea where they went.”

Zuko immediately authorized an army search team to investigate the Skulls Island, where the asylum had been.

“Should we notify the other world leaders?” Mai questioned. If Azula caused trouble in foreign lands, she might make their situation even worse than it already is.

“She won’t go to the Water Tribes. I guess we will have to tell Kuei if we don’t find her within a week.”

Zuko buried his head in his hands. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse for him, they did.


	2. One Week Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph Bei Fong is on the case.

Toph had been able to come right away. She had been in Gaoling visiting her parents (only because they had bribed her) when she heard of Azula’s escape. Zuko had sent express letters to everyone, and although she couldn’t read, Lao was able to read the letter for her.

“It says here that Azula escaped from the asylum and he needs your help to…”

Toph was already out the door. She rushed to the Fire Nation, getting on the fastest sky ship available.

She got to the palace the next morning. “SPARKY!”

* * *

 

Finally, good news. Zuko ran out and hugged her. “Thank the Spirits. You are here.”

“Well thank my dad for reading the letter to me. What the heck happened?”

Zuko quickly explained what he knew on the way to the asylum.

“So Princess Crazypants somehow managed to get the guards locked in one cell on the country’s holiday, so that there wouldn’t be a normal shift change in 12 hours and so that all of the major players would be away and drunk, and then she let out every inmate, stretching your resources and you have no clue where she went.”

“Yes.”

“So she’s not so crazy anymore.”

“Probably not.”

“Well crap!”

They got to the island.

The doctor and the nurse were still missing.

Toph decided to start at the asylum. “So who was here?”

Jing was there to give her a tour. “So, we have 5 floors. The first floor has no patients. It has the kitchen, the doctor’s office, the nurses’ station and a locker room for the guards. The second and third floors have patients. The fourth floor is a buffer zone and the fifth floor has our most troublesome patients.”

“Like Azula.”

“And some other strong benders and trouble makers.”

“How many of those people have been recovered?”

“None of them.”

“So she probably broke out with the people she’s been living with for the past year.”

“That’s a good a guess as any.”

Toph used her earthbending to inspect Azula’s cell. “There’s something in the ground.”

Toph stomped her foot, bringing out a letter. “It’s a letter,” she told them. She handed it to Zuko

“It’s addressed to me,” Zuko said, as he read the letter.

Whatever was in it made Zuko angry. Toph took it back before he burned it. “This could be evidence.”

“Why would she hide it underground if it’s for you?” Jing questioned.

“So he didn’t see it until I got here. She didn’t want him to have it right away.”

It also gave Toph reason to search the whole asylum with her earthbending. She had to check every inch of it. Large objects were easy to see from a distance, but small objects were not. She started to go room by room. The first 3 rooms had nothing, but then the fourth room had a broken compass. Toph wondered if Azula did this on purpose to waste her time.

* * *

 

She swore loudly. The earthbender wouldn’t know until she searched the whole damn asylum. It took over an hour and all she had found were various fragments of maps, a broken compass and some other clues.

“It’s like she scattered her stuff everywhere to make a scavenger hunt.”

She couldn’t read the map obviously, so the fragments went into a box. Maybe they would reveal something about where she was headed, probably not.

One of Jing’s guards came to see Toph. “We searched the doctor’s home and the nurse’s. We found blood but no sign of them.”

Toph questioned him. “Why didn’t you search their homes earlier?”

“We didn’t have a warrant, miss. We also, don’t have the authority to search private residences, so we had to wait for the military to arrive.”

She went to look for herself. She immediately felt something very wrong. She stomped her feet, pulling herself, Zuko and Jing underground. They found the doctor. He was strung upside down, bound, gagged and covered in blood.

Jing threw up.

“EW!” Toph complained at the smell. Now she wanted to throw up.

Zuko’s eyes got huge. The doctor’s broken bones were visible. He was like two minutes from death.

The nurse had been in even worse condition. It looked like they had been human piñatas.

“So this was definitely revenge for something,” Toph told Zuko. “They took the time to beat them up when they could have been getting more of a lead.”

Zuko couldn’t disagree.

“Did the letter say anything about the doctor?” Toph questioned.

“She accused him of abuse,” Zuko said.

“Sexual?”

“She didn’t say that.”

Toph grunted. “Well, whatever he did must have made her mad. This is pretty gross.” For a girl who won over a dozen rumbles that was really saying something.

The doctor and the nurse would not be able to tell their stories for several days, as they needed intensive medical treatment.

So far, they still didn’t know very much.

* * *

 

At the palace, Mai, Toph and Zuko went over the evidence.

“Azula’s a planner,” Toph said. “She planned everything from when she would break out, to where she would go, and how she would get there. She could have left no clues but she instead she purposefully scattered some around to take up time and confuse us. We don’t know if these are actual indications of where she’s going or if they are to tease us.

She knew it would take us a while to find the doctor and the nurse, but she left them somewhere they would be found. She wanted them alive. She could have killed them outright, but she wanted them to suffer. Her leaving the clues might have been a hint to get me to look under the doctor’s house.

If she knew the deficiency in the security plan, she might have also known of any deficiencies with the naval routes. If she got access to a boat, she might have chartered a course where she could avoid the normal patrols until she could get to the open sea.

My guess is she did that since it would be harder to find her on water than it would be to find her on land. Since she didn’t try to ambush you in your sleep,” Toph said to Zuko, “my guess is that she is heading away from you and not towards you.

Ba Sing Se is too risky with her uncle there and the King’s men. I would think she’d try Omashu or Gaoling if she wanted a major city, or she went for a small town in the middle of nowhere. Where someone might have heard of her, but wouldn’t know what she looks like.”

Zuko groaned. “That leaves so much territory.”

“Sorry Sparky, but it’s the best I can do with this limited information.”

Toph had to get back to work. She said she’d help him in anyway she could. “I’ll keep my eyes out in Ba Sing Se, and I know some people who can look for her in Gaoling, but you’re going to need more people for this, I can tell.”

Mai knew not to expect a miracle, but the day was damn disappointing. It was good that Toph saved the doctor and the nurse, but they were no closer to finding Azula.  
She knew Zuko wouldn’t rest until they found her, which meant she wouldn’t either. This was going to suck.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang and Katara come to look for Azula.

> Anyone who could allow this to happen to his own people doesn’t deserve to be the sovereign.

One Week Later

Zuko was furious. He had already screamed at the head of security for the asylum as well as the remaining nursing staff, janitors, and everyone else with in reach. His servants were scared of him. Mai wanted to avoid him even though she knew she had to help fix this fiasco.

“I’m sorry to say I have nothing to report,” his leading General told him. They didn’t know where they were going or what resources they had. It was reasonable to assume she had not left on foot.

The General had assumed Azula had outside help, but he had no idea who had helped her. New Ozai seemed to be focused on getting a new royal family in, saying that neither of Ozai’s heirs was sufficient to lead the nation.

As it stood now, Azula was missing in action. About 1/3 of the 48 patients at the asylum were still missing.

They had all been released somehow, but within the first two days, they caught most of them. Without food or any supplies many turned themselves into the state or were reported on by a neighbor.

“HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!” Zuko yelled for the umpteenth time. His sister was crazy, seeing hallucinations of her mother for a year. The doctor and head nurse both had reported that she had made little to no progress. She should have been too crazy to pull this off. Either she was and someone had broken her out, or she had deceived the medical team and was saner than they had believed. Either way, she was gone.

Mai came into the room. “General, have you determined who all she was with.”

“No. We have no clues other than the letter.”

* * *

 

Dear Fire Lord Zuko,

By the time you receive this letter, we will be long gone. We were locked here because we were deemed crazy, a threat to ourselves and to others, and once that might have been true. Now, however, we are sane and are ready to assert our rights to live free of torture and abuse.

The treatment we received at the asylum was nothing short of unconscionable. We would not wish upon our worse enemies the abuse we suffered. We were so appalled by the care that we released all of the inmates, even though many of them need psychiatric care, because no one could get better in such an environment.

We hope this serves as a wake up call to you that you need to treat your patients better. As a Fire Lord, you have no obligation to run an asylum. You could have referred them to private care or sent them elsewhere for treatment. However, once you decided to run an asylum, you had an obligation to run it properly and you failed.

The doctor and nurses beat and tormented us for their sick pleasures. You stood by and let it happen. You should be ashamed of yourself. For a man who claims to be bringing peace and harmony to the world, you are quite horrible at it.

I am sure you are going to send the military after us, and I am sure they will do the best to catch us, but we are prepared to challenge them at every opportunity. We won’t stay silent and we won’t stand by and do nothing as human rights abuses continue in this nation and in the world.

You will likely deem us public enemy number 1. This is a position you should reserve for yourself. Anyone who could allow this to happen to his own people doesn’t deserve to be the sovereign.

This is the first time you heard from us all using one voice. It won’t be the last.

The Misfit Crew

* * *

 

It was more than a week after this letter had been found that the Avatar was reading it. He was shocked at the accusations. He had not visited the asylum himself, but he had assumed it was medically appropriate.

“Did you ever investigate these accusations?”

“What?” Zuko questioned. How would that help find Azula?

“If this is true, then maybe they’ll come forward if you reform the place.”

“The asylum has been temporarily shut down,” Mai told him. “The doctor and the head nurse were too badly wounded to continue.”

“Were they wounded in the escape?” Katara thought there had been no casualties.

“No. They were strung up by their feet and beaten severely,” Zuko said. “The nurse’s jaw was broken in three places.”

Aang cringed. “This was personal.” It wasn’t just a rebuke to Zuko. These people were angry.

“Who else was on the floor with her?” Katara questioned.

Mai read the list. “Haru, an earthbender from Omashu who apparently had a mental breakdown in Ba Sing Se. We have Jet, a former Freedom Fighter who may have been brainwashed by Long Feng. Hama, a waterbender who had been imprisoned during the war and became a bloodbender, so she could get revenge on the Fire Nation, and Chin, a former guard from Capital City who started having symptoms of schizophrenia about a week before Sozin’s Comet.”

Katara looked sad. “Haru was my friend. He had been helping us fight the Fire Nation. When he disappeared, I assumed he had gone home.”

Aang nodded. “He must have been captured by the Fire Nation when Azula conquered the city. How else would he get in an asylum here?”

“And they’re all missing?” Katara questioned.

“Yes.”

“Then they must have left together,” Aang decided.

“Isn’t that weird to you?” Katara said. “Hama hated the Fire Nation. Azula must have hated any bloodbender who killed Fire Nation people. Jet certainly hated the Fire Nation. Why would they all stick together?”

“Maybe they thought their odds of staying free were best together.”

“But why would they trust each other at all.”

Aang scratched his head. “It is odd, unless the allegations of torture are true. They might have become dependent on each other to survive.”

Katara frowned. She didn’t want that to be true. “When will the doctor be able to tell us what happened?”

Mai said, “He won’t be able to talk for another week.”

Aang and Katara started with a flyover of the asylum. Katara pointed to a ledge. They flew to it.

“If there had been a boat waiting for them here,” Katara pointed, “they could have jumped in and been gone before anyone checked their cells in the morning.”

Aang used his earthbending to look around but “the water would have washed away any clues. This was a good place for them to depart, but we won’t find any physical evidence here.”

Katara nodded.

They reported to Zuko what they had found.

* * *

 

“But where would they get the boat?”

“Where would they get the guard’s rotation, and how did they know you were away on vacation?”

Zuko frowned. “She had to have had outside help.”

They grilled anyone who might have been loyal to Azula, starting with Lo and Li.

“We haven’t seen the Princess since her breakdown,” Lo told them.

“We wanted to visit, but the doctor said it was bad for her treatment.”

“Have you written to her at all?”

Lo shook her head.

“They prohibited that.”

“We couldn’t even send her chocolates.”

Jing confirmed that Azula had not been allowed any contact or presents. “We had to confiscate everything that had been sent to her.”

“Do you still have the stuff?” Aang questioned.

“The non-perishables, yes.”

They saw that books, trinkets and letters had been collected in a box. One of the gifts was from Mai’s father.

Zuko confronted the man only to hear, “it’s a free country. I can send presents if I want to.”

“AZULA ESCAPED!”

Mai’s father laughed. “Well, I guess she wasn’t so crazy, was she?”

“Did you have anything to do with this father?” Mai’s voice was cold. She was not in the mood for games.

“No. I just thought the girl could use some cheering up. It must have been rough fighting so hard for her country just to get locked in a cage like a rabid dog. I only got demoted.”

Mai grunted. They had no proof her father had done anything. They couldn’t connect any of the other gift givers to her either.

“Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way,” Zuko said. “Instead of looking at who might have helped her, let’s start with who could have helped her?”

Anyone would have known it was a holiday, but not everyone knew of the guards’ schedules.

Jing obviously knew. Zuko had him grilled twice, but he came up clean. The guards who had been trapped in the cell all came up clean too.

“Wait a minute,” Mai said. “One of the guards who went on vacation over the weekend, his son died in the siege of Northern Water Tribe.”

He could have wanted revenge against Zuko.

Zuko sent the military to pick him up but, “he was gone,” the general told him. “His house was empty, and he was a widower, so there’s no one else in the family to look for.” His wife had died in childbirth. His son had been his life and then he was taken away. The sibling who stood by and did nothing had the Crown while his sister was caged. He decided to help change things.

“I want a search for him immediately!”

“So he could have told her of the guards’ schedules, and if he still has connections to the navy, he could have also told her how to evade their perimeter search.”

Two weeks later, the military found the man dead. He had decided to join his family in the spirit world.

Their only lead on Azula’s whereabouts was gone.

Zuko was livid.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened when Azula got to the asylum.

August 100 AG- Three days After Sozin’s Comet

The cell was dark. Only slivers of light could get into the grey room. Azula’s throat was raw from all of the screaming and crying. She had it all. She could have been Fire Lord, but that water witch stole it from her. She cheated, but Azula couldn’t do anything about it.

She could only sit there and contemplate her failures. Her father’s voice was in her head, telling her to escape and kill her brother, get her crown back. Her mother told her that this was her own fault, she should have been kinder to Mai and Ty Lee and they wouldn’t have betrayed her.

Azula tried to burn the hallucination of her mother but her flame was gone. _Had the avatar taken her bending?_

“They drug us here,” a voice hissed to her.

“Who’s there?” Azula raised a fist. She couldn’t tell if the voice was in her mind or in the wall.

“It’s Haru. I live in the cell next to you. They drug us so we can’t bend here.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah it does.”

* * *

 

Before she could ask him anything else, Azula got taken in for her first treatment.

She thought it would be some stupid talk therapy, but instead, she found herself strapped to a board.

“What is this?”

The nurse smiled. “We want to test your reflexes.”

Instead of getting her knees and elbows whacked like she had expected, she got harsh slaps to the face and punches to her chest. The nurse laughed as she beat the hell out of the princess.

The doctor stood in the corner and took notes. He was researching how people react to physical pain and duress.

“You’re a sick bastard!” Azula hissed at him.

“This is for science.”

His research was going to be award winning. He was going to be the leading expert on PTSD. He did not care that he was causing his patients to suffer from the disorder in the first place. Sometimes, the ends justify the means. With all of the people suffering from PTSD after the war, he was going to become a very rich man.

His plan was to systematically break his patients and then test experimental cures on them.

Azula refused to cry or scream. She stayed silent, not giving them the satisfaction.

“We’ll make you scream,” the nurse promised before Azula got thrown back into her cell. “You may as well not try to fight it.”

The guards unceremoniously dumped her on the ground.

* * *

 

“You just got your weekly dose of hell,” Haru told her. “It’s the only way to keep track of how long you’ve been here.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Two months!”

“And you’re still functioning?”

“I gotta keep my mind strong. My body might not be free, but my brain can be.”

Azula doubted that.

Look at what happens to failures! Ozai’s words haunted her mind. He hadn’t been in her mind before the beating. If she didn’t get out of here, she would break into even more pieces.

* * *

 

Over the course of the next week, she learned of her other floor mates.

Jet was on the other side of Haru. He fought with the guards when they tried to take him to his treatment, kicking one of them in the nuts. He got a chop to the throat, making him fall, before he got carried out.

“He has to fight,” Haru told Azula. “It’s the only thing that keeps him from totally losing it.” Finding new ways to hurt the guards kept Jet grounded.

Hama was drugged more heavily than the others. With her extensive knowledge in bloodbending, the doctor feared that she would make the guards let her out at some point.

She didn’t hesitate to spit on the guards when she could. Right away she told Azula, “Your family is scum! They are why we’re all in here.”

“Well clearly they don’t think any better of me than they do of you,” Azula hissed back.

Hama was starting to like her. Most of the time, people were too afraid to talk to her. Azula would give it right back.

“Bitch shut up!”

Chin was the quiet one. He would listen to other people and nod or shake his head, but he wouldn’t speak, even when the nurses tried to make him.

Azula liked listening to the others talk. It helped her keep her mind of her own hallucinations and frustrations with being locked up. Mostly, it was Jet and Hama bickering about something. She’d call him a sexist cow pig, and he’d call her grandma, to her chagrin.

The two were amusing. Azula wondered if they would have dated if they had been closer in age.

* * *

 

Eventually, it was lights out. As Azula lied in what they told her was a bed, she wondered how could everyone in her life turn on her like this? First her mother left, then her uncle turned his back on the war, then her brother left, her best friends betrayed her and her father abandoned her. She relished the day that she got out of here and sought her revenge.

The Crown would be hers and she would make sure to have a reunion, with everyone who betrayed her, before she had them all public beheaded, one by one, so they could see the fate of those who preceded them. She decided she’d save Ursa for last; let her see what a monster her daughter had become.

That’s it, live up to your reputation


	5. How We All Ended Up Here.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How the Misfit Crew ended up in the asylum.

Over the next two weeks, Ozai’s voice in her mind got stronger and stronger.

_You need to take back the throne and get me out of here._

_I have to defeat my brother._

_Daddy loves you._

No one else loved me. My mother didn’t love me. I have to help my father.

Ozai’s calls to seek vengeance were louder and angrier in his daughter’s mind. Azula’s mind was wrapping around his twisted teachings. but her body was rejecting them. Azula found herself waking up in cold sweats, shivering often and getting feverish.

Haru had noticed her breakdown. It was hard not to when he would wake up to her thrashing and shrieking. “I know what’s making you sick.”

“The poison they call food or the beatings they call medical treatment.”

“Neither, it’s in your mind.”

“What?”

“You have to find an anchor.”

“You’re talking nonsense.” She quickly dismissed him.

“You need something to fight for. Something that will be worth all of the shit they give you here. When you find it, you can’t tell anyone what it is. If you let the doctor or the nurse know, then they will break you.”

“But I do have something to fight for,” my crown.

“Then it’s not good enough. You have to find something better.”

Azula knew that her crown was the best thing.

_Don’t listen to the fool. He’s just an earthbending peasant._

* * *

 

Azula didn’t listen to him. She ignored his advice only to get even sicker. She vomited during her fourth beating.

She threw up on the nurse, which made the doctor laugh.

The nurse beat her worse for that.

“You stupid bitch!”

She also threw cold water on Azula’s head, really making her feel terrible.

For five days, Azula contemplated what Haru had said. If her crown wasn’t enough, what could keep her going?

“How did you find your anchor?” she asked Haru.

“It’s not easy. You have to think of what you would do if you only had one day to live.”

Azula’s first thought was to seek vengeance, but if she only had one day, that seemed like an unlikely task.

_I bet Ty Lee would say something stupid like tumbling on a hill or rolling in flowers like a leopard dog._

Why did she think of Ty Lee?

Azula still had no anchor, but her search for one seemed to help her fare better in her beating the next day.

* * *

 

She didn’t throw up. She did, however, spit blood on the nurse’s face when she leaned in too close.

The doctor took note.

The nurse was not amused.

Azula came back with a black eye.

“What did you do?” Jet asked her.

“I might have spit blood on the nurse’s face.”

“Good one.”

Apparently, freaking out the nurse was not her anchor.

***

It was six weeks since Azula had gotten to the asylum when she heard a hissing noise. “Are you awake?” it was Haru.

“I am now. What is it?” she asked grumbling.

“This is the best time for us to talk. The guards won’t be here until it’s time to re-dose us at 6:30.”

“What would we talk about?”

“Anything you don’t want them to hear.”

Azula was out of her bed and leaning on her wall now.

Haru told her about his life before he had gotten taken in.

“It was just my father and I growing up. My mom died when I was three.”

She got sick and they couldn’t afford the medicine. Haru couldn’t really remember what she looked like outside of a portrait that Tyro kept of her. He wondered how they would have gotten along if she had lived. Unfortunately, he really didn’t have any memories of her.

“As I got older, the Fire Nation was making more and more settlements, getting closer to Omashu. I wanted them gone, so I would use my earthbending to fight them. They had banned earthbending when Omashu got taken, so I had to be careful, but I only grew more determined.”

Haru had joined the Avatar when he came into town.

“I had gone with them and his group to Ba Sing Se, but I lost them during the siege. I got ambushed and knocked out. When I woke up, I was in a brig on a ship. Somehow, I made it here.”

“When did you go crazy?”

“That’s just it. I don’t remember going crazy.”

“You mean they just threw you in here?”

“I guess. I don’t know what happened.”

* * *

 

Jet did remember what happened to him. “I confronted Long Feng when I found out he had brainwashed me. The bastard threw me off a cliff. I should have died, but someone got me to a hospital in time. I had some type of panic attack. I think it was my mind trying to purge out the Joo Dee they had put in it, but they must have thought I was a loon because I ended up here. I got here around the same time as Haru.”

“What was your life like before you got here?” Azula was the only one who didn’t know.

“I was an orphan, like all the Freedom Fighters; I was their leader. We would fight Fire Nation at any turn. I used to plant poison knives on their citizens. At the time, I thought they all deserved it, but looking back now, I can see that their people were likely as helpless as anyone else.

My friends were (are?) Longshot. He’s an archer. Smellerbee who fought with swords and daggers, pretty much any blade she could get. The Duke was an eight year old. We caught him trying to steal food from our camp. His parents got killed in the war, and he was all alone.”

Azula frowned. The Fire Nation probably killed them.

“Pipsqueak would fight with a big wooden log. I pretty much screwed everything up though when I tried to flood Gaipan. They never said anything about it, but I don’t think they trusted me afterwards.”

“You were ready to do what you had to win the war. No price seemed to high to pay,” Azula sympathized.

“Yeah you could say that.” Maybe we aren’t too different.

* * *

 

Hama went next. “I’m from the Southern Water Tribe. I got captured during the raids. I was deprived of water, so I couldn’t escape, but I developed bloodbending. I used it to force the guards to let me out and I became an innkeeper.

I hated the Fire Nation. They ruined my life, so when Fire Nation people would stay in my inn, I’d trap them in the mountain during the full moon using my bloodbending. I tried to recruit the Avatar’s little girlfriend, but she turned against me. The next thing I knew, the soldiers picked me up and I was here.”

“You thought you could trust her because she was a fellow waterbender,” Azula said.

“Yeah and she was from my tribe. I was a friend of her grandmother. That was dumb of me I guess.”

“My best friends from childhood both betrayed me.”

Hama shrugged. “Bitches ain’t shit!”

* * *

 

Chin didn’t want to say how he got here. He just stayed quiet.

Azula didn’t want to tell her story.

“You heard all ours,” Jet complained.

“Well most of ours,” Haru said.

“But mine’s the worst of all.”

“I doubt it,” Hama said.

Chin gave the incentive. “I’ll tell my story if you tell yours.”

“You gotta do it,” Jet told her. “None of us knows his story!”

Azula gave into peer pressure and began to speak.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula begins to open up to the others, but has yet to face her demons.

“Well, you all know of the key players of my family, Ozai, Zuko, and Iroh, but you probably don’t know too much about Azulon (minus Hama). I’ll start with him.

He ran the Fire Nation from most of the war, starting from when he was 20 until he died at 95. He had two sons, Iroh and then Ozai. Iroh was the military genius, the Dragon of the West. Ozai was the cunning one. He wanted to rule and he knew how to control other people and get them to do his bidding. Azulon favored Iroh because of his work ethic and it showed. Iroh had Lu Ten who was to be the Crown Prince when Iroh became Fire Lord.

This did not please Ozai at all. He thought that if his children were more impressive, he would get the throne so that his children would be the ones to have a chance to rule.

He tried to have two sons and would support the better one. Zuko was born and all was according the plan, but then I was born and Ozai was disappointed. I could be married off for political reasons, but I wasn’t much use for impressing Azulon.

This all changed when I was five. Zuko was playing some type of game outside and he wouldn’t let me play. I got mad and set the grass on fire. My mother scolded me, but Ozai was proud. I had a blue flame, hotter than all the rest. I apparently was a prodigy.

He started to take an interest in me and less of one in Zuko. Ursa favored my brother and coddled him. Zuko resented me because he thought I was just naturally gifted, but I worked harder than he did. He would get frustrated and quit when he couldn’t learn a new move. He had talent but no self-control.

In contrast, I wouldn’t give up. I would keep pushing myself even if it took all day until I got it. I absorbed everything my father taught me like a sponge. He would use violence to keep me scared of him, to keep me in control and I used his techniques against others.

Azulon praised me because of my talent and dedication. He ignored Zuko to Iroh and Ursa’s chagrin.

I learned from an early age that I best keep Ozai and Azulon happy. They didn’t accept failure and Iroh and Ursa didn’t accept me at all, so I best succeed.

When I was 9, Lu Ten died in the siege of Ba Sing Se. Iroh quit and Ozai asked Azulon to be the next heir. Azulon thought Ozai was being callous and said if you want it, then you must lose your first born too. Ozai was happy to kill Zuko for the throne. Ursa found out and Ozai got her to kill Azulon so that Ozai could forge a will and take the throne. He stole Iroh’s birthright and Ursa disappeared. I don’t know if she’s dead or not.

Life went on. I had to focus on school and firebending and when Zuko was 13, he spoke out of turn in a military meeting and my father suggested an agni kai. When Zuko got in the ring, he begged for mercy and Ozai burned his face for shaming him.

My father hates begging more than anything else. Zuko should have fought and lost. He wouldn’t have been banished, but my brother was always pretty stupid. He never knew how to think. He just hoped others would bail him out and they did.” Ursa first, Iroh next, Mai and Ty Lee, then Katara, he never had to make it on his own.

“My father hired Lo and Li to prepare me for the throne. I was training intensively from when I was 12 until I was 14. That’s when Iroh turned on the nation and Ozai sent me to arrest him and Zuko.”

Azula would have to continue the story the next night as the guards were almost there.

* * *

 

The following night, Azula explained her role in the war, from start to finish

“Isn’t it odd that we all encountered Katara before we ended up here?” Hama said.

Azula shrugged. “I guess it is.”

“I swear if I see that bitch again, I’m gonna kill her.” She blamed the waterbender for her capture.

Azula didn’t say anything in return.

Chin then told his story.

“I grew up with my father and my older brother. My mother died when I was about ten.” No one ever told him how. “My father was a military man. My brother joined the navy. I joined the Royal Guard and defended the palace. My father was getting old, and I wanted to stay close to him. He had bad knees from fighting in his early days.

My brother was my best friend. We went everywhere together. He taught me how to shave, how to flirt with the ladies, and we knew we’d be each other’s best man at our weddings.

He got a commission to join Admiral Zhao and he took it, not knowing he would be sailing to his death.

All I knew was that the Avatar could turn into a glowing giant, and my brother died from his retaliation for killing Tui. My father was always a very stern man, some would say violent, but I just thought he wanted us to be disciplined. Men easily died for speaking out of turn in the military, and he figured it better to hit us so we learn the lesson than let us get maimed when we were deployed.

He snapped when my brother died, and he became violent and erratic. I think he was going crazy.

I tried to help him, but it is very uncouth to suggest your elder, especially your father, is mentally ill. I was desperate to get him help. I went to his old comrades. I tried my boss, but no one would listen.

Finally, he really snapped and he tried to strangle me. I almost let him because I was so conditioned not to fight him, but out of nowhere a sword came down and struck his heart.

I didn’t do it. I swear I saw my brother’s ghost. He came back to save me. Anyway, when I told my lawyer this, he thought I was crazy, and I ended up in here. My lawyer thought it would be better than jail. I’d rather be in Boiling Rock.”

Everyone thought Azula’s story would be the worst and it mostly was, but there was something about Chin’s that was just so harrowing.

It now made sense why he didn’t speak. He was trained to be respectful to listen and do as instructed not to express himself, and the one he was supposed to listen to was dead. What was he to do now? In the confusion, there was only silence.

Now that they all knew each other, the atmosphere changed. They were more trusting, especially Azula. She had been raised in a privileged and isolated world. Now she knew life stories from two other nations and one from her own. Her whole life she had been surrounded by guards. She couldn’t say she knew much about any of them.

Despite her progress with trusting people, she was still suffering with mental illness. She would mumble to herself, start screaming at her “mother.” She had once been a bright start, but she was losing herself and fast.

* * *

  
She couldn’t seem to find an anchor. The former Princess tried to figure out what in her life mattered at this point. If she had something to live for, she didn’t know what it was. She didn’t get sick again, but she started to show signs of fading.

The others wondered what they should do to help

“We need her if we’re going to get out of here,” Jet told the others.

“What is she going to do?” Hama questioned.

“She’s the best trained fighter. She probably still has allies on the outside. She might even have money.”

Haru shrugged. “I tried to help her, but she doesn’t have an anchor. She has nothing to hold on to.”

“She must have something,” Jet insisted. “We gotta find it!”

“SHUT UP!” Azula screamed at the wall. “YOU NEVER LOVED ME! YOU ONLY LOVED THAT USELESS PIECE OF FODDER ZUKO!”

Azula collapsed on her bed. She was exhausted.

Haru cringed. They needed to find something before she snapped again.


	7. Finding an Anchor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azula needs to find something to hold onto before she loses it again.

October 100AG

Two months into Azula’s stay, she was starting to feel like she had friends. Haru would often chat with her late into the night, after the others had gone to bed. They were usually tired when they got medicated in the morning since they were talking all night before.

Azula started to tell them about her days in the Royal Academy.

“We snuck out of the school to go get dim sum once.” She laughed when she remembered the look on her headmaster’s face when she strolled in an hour after lunch had ended. “Mai got grounded for a month. Ty Lee’s parents actually thought her sister had snuck out, and they punished her instead.” Ursa had given Azula a stern talking to but the young princess paid her no mind.

Haru noticed something. “You talk about Ty Lee a lot.”

“She was one of my few friends.”

“But you talk about her more than Mai.”

“So.” At least she didn’t date my useless brother.

“Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

Azula scoffed. There was absolutely no reason to think about that ditzy airhead.  
Suddenly, Azula started to remember her pretty face and her gorgeous figure. A small smile hit her face before she frowned.

Haru didn’t mention Ty Lee again, which was wise as the former princess refused to think about Ty Lee, even for a second. Unfortunately, this meant she was thinking of her all the time: her smile, her hugs, her adoration for the stupid color pink, everything reminded Azula of Ty Lee and thoughts of the girl could not leave her mind.

She’ll only betray you again!

Ozai was right. Ty Lee was trouble; trouble Azula should avoid. The firebender tried to ignore her feelings, but Ty Lee seemed to be inescapable. It was like the girl had taken over her mind.

* * *

 

November 100 AG

When it was time for Azula’s next treatment, she started to think of thunderstorms. Ty Lee had been dreadfully afraid of them. Azula would have to hold her until she’d fall back asleep if there was a thunderstorm during a sleepover. The memory made Azula smile, despite her cracked ribs.

“What are you smiling for?”

“I was just remembering how ugly you are,” Azula told her.

The nurse slapped her across the face but Azula only said, “seriously, your face looks like an ostrich horse’s butt.” Her confidence was only growing. In her weakest moment, thoughts of Ty Lee gave her strength.

Azula got thrown back into her cell.

“Did you get sick again?” Haru asked her.

“No.” Azula was starting to get the hang of this. She was starting to form an anchor.

* * *

 

December 100AG

As the beatings continued, thoughts of Ty Lee allowed Azula to imagine that she was somewhere else, that the beatings were only an allusion.

The nurse didn’t take kindly to Azula’s ignoring her. She tried waterboarding her to get her to snap, but Azula would only hack up the water, refusing to cry, scream or anything else.

Azula came to the realization that she was hopelessly in love with Ty Lee, the girl who got away. Surely, she hated Azula after being thrown in prison. The firebender would likely never see her again, except for in her dreams. This would have to be enough. The slim possibility of holding her once more would have to be enough. If Azula lost this fantasy, she would lose everything.

***

One night, Azula woke up to what sounded like running. She peered to see Chin running in place.

“What is he doing?” she asked Haru.

“He’s training. He thinks if he stays in shape, he’ll have a better chance of escaping.”

“I suppose that is true,” Azula said. Her bending must be pathetic by now. She hasn’t used it in months.

Azula tried to do pushups. She used to be able to do 20 with perfect form. Now, she could only do five with crappy form.

“This sucks.”

Azula started to watch Chin’s routine and copy it.

“What are you doing?” Haru asked.

“I need to train too.”

“But you’re a bender. He’s not.”

“I have to get my body ready first. Then I’ll start figuring out how to get my bending back.”

The others thought the two Fire Nation patients were odd, but Azula and Chin would train every day. He didn’t say anything to her, but he did smile her way. It was nice not to be training alone anymore.


	8. Rebuild

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hama gives Azula an idea that can help them escape

**January 101 AG**

Four weeks after Azula had started to work out, she was starting to show some improvement. She could do 15 pushups in a row now. She could do 3 pull-ups on the bars. She was starting to do pistol squats. She would get out of here. She would have a life worth living again. She would make her brother eat tube socks. She just needed a chance.

“Why don’t you train in a way that’s useful?” Hama hissed at her.

“What should I do?”

“You could try heatbending. If you can metabolize the bending suppressant fast enough, then you can get your bending back with enough time to do something.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Because you were crazy as shit and yelling about your possibly dead mother, but I haven’t heard you say anything crazy this past month.”

When Azula accepted that she loved Ty Lee, even though she refused to say it out loud, the voices started to stop. Sure her father argued with her, telling her she was an idiot for loving a circus freak, but Azula loved her more than her father and learned to shut him out.

Now that she was sane, she had to appreciate that the people around her had to act differently around her when she was crazy.

Azula scowled. “I suppose that’s a fair point.”

* * *

 

Azula started to focus on her heatbending. 1AM was too early. At 4AM she was too sleepy. Eventually, she realized that 2:15AM was the perfect time to start her heatbending. She could get through the rest of her drugs at 3AM. From three to six, she would practice her firebending.

Her flame was paltry at first. She could barely burn a wasp, but each day she would practice.

She stood up and positioned herself like her father had taught her years ago. She did her katas 1-8. She did them every day for weeks on end.

By the time March came around, she was shadow sparring, practicing her ducks, jumps, kicks and punches. She dreamed of her escape. She only had one problem. Even if she could get out and get all her friends out, it would do no good if only she and Chin could fight. She finally said. “Y’all need to learn how to fight again.”

“How?” Hama questioned.

Azula had an idea. “Haru, give me your hand.” She started heatbending.

“You’re making me all warm and sweaty!”

“Good. I’m going to try to help you burn off the suppressant.”

It was a slower process when she had to raise his temperature instead of her own, but by 4AM, he was able to bend.

“Now start practicing.”

He started with his basics. It was weird how heavy the earth felt to him. He had to start with one little rock.

**April 101AG**

Haru had been earthbending for about two weeks now. Azula was starting to form a plan.

“Once you can open up the cell walls, I can start heatbending everyone else. Then, we can all train until we’re ready to escape.”

With a newfound motivation, Haru managed to open the cell wall that night. Azula went to Hama next.

“We’ll likely need your waterbending a lot if we want to get out of here.” Hama could heal, bloodbend, make ice keys and help them get to a boat. She was critical in the plan.

Hama found the heatbending very uncomfortable. “You’re going to give me a fever.”

“Sorry, your body is all icy.”

“I’m a waterbender!”

“Well, that’s too bad!”

The two girls bickered like sisters. Jet found them amusing.

Hama was able to pull water from the stone in the walls. She practiced manipulating and freezing the water. Even though she couldn’t waterbend physically for over a year, she had been practicing the art in her mind. She regained her skills very quickly.

They all started hoarding drinking water, so Hama could use it. She would heal them after their treatments.

With their bodies stronger, their minds were better able to formulate a plan to get out of here.


	9. Found a Way Out

**May 101AG**

Azula had been studying the guards for months. She noticed that one of them seemed to be disgruntled. His name was Kai. She started to talk to him.

“You don’t look happy to be here.”

“Should I be?”

“You’re a guard, not a prisoner. You could just quit.”

“And do what?” Zuko hadn’t honored the death benefits for any of the officers who died during the siege of the Northern Water Tribe. He said their deaths were their own doing. Kai couldn’t afford not to work. He had served for the military. His son had served too, yet they got only scorn from the new Fire Lord. It was like they were slaves. Kai would never be free.

“You don’t have a pension?”

“Like your brother had any gratitude for the men who laid down their lives for this country.”

“You’re still here, so you must be talking about …”

“My son, Kuzon.”

* * *

 

Over the next month, Azula learned anything and everything Kai would tell her about his son, the navy, and the current state of affairs.

In June, Azula decided to give it a shot.

“I could help you.”

“How could you help me?”

“I have money, money Zuko doesn’t know about. I could give you enough to retire.”

At first, the guard scoffed at the offer, but over the next week, he started to think about it. The offer started to sound really good. He came back to her.

“What do you need?”

Azula smirked. It was game time.

She drafted a letter to her lawyer. She needed him to free up her money so she could get it.

She also had some nobles who owed her a favor. She had been keeping their sordid secrets and if they wanted her to continue to keep them, then they would need to provide her a boat and a house to hide in.

Over the next month, she started to work out where she would go and how she would get there.

With Kai’s help, she was able to plan an escape.

**August 101 AG**

It was the eve of Day of the Dragon. Azula had been heatbending in the early morning so that her body could metabolize the bending suppressant as fast as possible. By 11PM, she could firebend again. She heatbended Haru, so he could bend again and then she got to Hama. By 2AM. They were all free of the drugs.

They needed to make sure the doctor and the nurse weren’t going to come in today.

They snuck out of the asylum and paid them each a house visit.

The doctor didn’t hear anyone come into his house. It wasn’t until a bucket of ice water got dumped on his head that he woke up.

“WHAT IN SPIRITS NAME!”

“Hello Doctor,” Hama hissed!

Before he knew it, he was in a bunker underground. They tied him up by his feet. Jet got the first swing and the second and the third. “This isn’t so much fun now is it!”

Chin went next. He grabbed a giant stick he found out side and battered the doctor with it repeatedly.

Azula knew it was wrong, but she had to admit it was fun. She burned off his clothes. He was naked when Hama beat him with ice whips, giving him lacerations all over. Haru just punched him in the face until his jaw was black and blue.

They went down the street and did the same to the nurse. Unlike the doctor who had tried to stay silent, she screamed bloody murder, but no one came for her.

For someone who dished out over 1000 beatings, she didn’t take to violence very well.

“What was it you said to me?” Azula mocked the nurse. “That I would never get away that I was nothing but a washed up war relic. Let’s see if you ever leave this bunker.”

To make the beatings even worse, the nurse had taunted them mercilessly about their pasts. Let’s just say, she wished she had been given some mercy.

They returned back to the asylum and when the guards came to get them their medicine, Haru earthbended them into a cell. Jet took all their keys. “Enjoy hell,” he told them as they left.

No one came for them for 24 hours, when the next guards came for their shift.

It was during this time that they got in Azula’s boat and left. Right before they departed, Haru earthbended holes in the walls, allowing every inmate to walk right on out of the asylum.

The people had conditions ranging from bipolar disorder to schizophrenia to severe PTSD. It was utter chaos when they were all let out at once, and the Misfit crew did not stay to see the aftermath.

Instead, they headed to the Fire Nation Palace. Zuko was on vacation for the day. Azula went back to her own room and got supplies: weapons, food, maps, money, and anything else they could carry out of the palace.

“Won’t Zuko notice you were here?” Hama questioned.

Azula shook her head. “Look how dusty this room is. No one’s been in it for a year.”

Before Azula left, she broke into Zuko’s office, copying valuable information about his military assignments. She knew enough to evade them for some time. She also stole his official letterhead, in case she needed paperwork later on.

She left in the evening. Zuko didn’t find out about her escape until 24 hours after she left the palace.

They were headed for Omashu to try to find Haru’s father and the Freedom Fighters. Hopefully, they would help them start new lives.


	10. Where in the World is Azula

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One month later, and Zuko still has no answers.

**September 101 AG**

Azula had been missing for a month. Zuko had the navy and the air force looking for her, but they had seen no signs of her. There were no signs of Azula or her friends anywhere.

Kuei was not happy to learn that she had escaped.

“Why am I just being notified?” he questioned.

“We were trying not to induce a panic,” Mai told him, “but our perimeter failed and we cannot find her anywhere.”

“Do you think she’s hiding in the Earth Kingdom?”

“I think she is, but we have no solid proof that she left the country.”

“Whom did she leave with?”

Zuko gave him the list of names.

“It says here that two of these people are my citizens.”

“They are.”

“How come I didn’t know they were there in the first place?” Kuei wondered if his people had been getting fair treatment in a Fire Nation asylum.

Zuko said it was an oversight. He apologized.

“Are there any other Earth Kingdom nationals in the asylum?”

Zuko didn’t know off the top of his head.

Kuei later found out that 4 other nationals were in the asylum. He requested they be transferred over to a hospital in Gaoling along with their medical records.

He was not amused to learn that their files had been redacted.

“For what reason?”

“The doctor says he does not want to disclose all of his treatment techniques. Some of them are experimental. He is trying to publish a paper.”

“Experimental? Has he been using my people like pigeon rats?”

Zuko hadn’t looked into the treatment very closely. Tensions started to rise.

They had just gotten the Yu Dao deal done, and Zuko didn’t need any more international strife. Unfortunately, Kuei did not seem ready to drop the matter.

**October 101AG**

Smellerbee led the Freedom Fighters now. The war was over, so much of their work was done, but there were still bandits and other hooligans in town.

It was just her, Longshot, the Duke, and Pipsqueak.

“I miss Jet,” the Duke said.

Smellerbee frowned.

“That’s no disrespect to you as a leader.”

“I know. I miss him too.”

They all did. Why did that bastard have to kill their friend?

That night, they had been telling their favorite stories about their leader who had died too young.

“I remember when he taught me how to climb a tree,” the Duke said to them. He didn’t have a much of a childhood. The boy had to learn to fend for himself at an early age.

Jet suggested they go climb trees and the Duke had to admit that he didn’t know how.

Jet found an easy tree to climb. It was short and with fat branches. “We went one limb at a time. I almost fell out and then he grabbed my arm and pulled me back up.”

“He was my first kiss,” Smellerbee admitted.

Longshot looked surprised.

“Oh shut up it was just a peck.” Longshot was her boyfriend now. “And you don’t get to be jealous. He’s dead.”

Smellerbee had confided in Jet that she didn’t think a boy would ever want to kiss her. He kissed her, and said she couldn’t be more wrong.

Longshot sighed. “I miss the son of a bitch.”

* * *

 

The next night, the group went out to a pub. They had wanted to get a couple of drinks and get their minds off things. The Duke was too young to drink, so he just had soda.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the announcer started. “We have a band performing here tonight. Let’s give it up for the Lychee Nuts.”

“What kind of band is called Lychee Nuts?” Pipsqueak questioned.

“I think you need the ‘the’” the Duke told him. He didn’t like it when his ‘the’ got dropped.

A group came out, each of them wearing a mask. The masks looked crazy with their strange colors. It wasn’t anything the crowd had seen before. The group started to play. They had a singing trumpet in front of the piano, a guy on drums, one on bass and another on the guitar.

The first song they did was “I Love You but I Hate all Your Friends.”

They had a lot of energy and people started to get up and dance.

The Freedom Fighters were digging the music.

“Jet used to play the guitar at the camp,” Pipsqueak commented.

The Duke still had the guitar. “He said he’d teach me how to play.”

The next song was Move Your Feet, and the last song they did was Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough!

* * *

 

After they were done, Smellerbee went to see if the band wanted to drink with them.

“You guys seem pretty cool.”

“Who says I’m a guy,” Azula hissed under her mask.

Smellerbee snickered. She hated it when people thought she was a boy. “I would know if you took off your mask.”

“Not here,” she said.

“So where did you all come from?” Longshot asked them.

“I used to be from here,” Jet said. “I had a pretty awesome group of friends, but I got locked up, and they disappeared.”

“They didn’t come for you when you got out?” Smellerbee questioned.

“I’m not sure they know where I am or what happened to me.”

Hama came over with a cloak. “I got the money. Let’s go!” As it turned out, living on the lam was more expensive than Azula had expected. The group would really be angry with her if they found out she had spent most of the money her lawyer had given her right away, but she knew it was worth it.

Pipsqueak asked if he’d see them again, and Jet said, “We’ll be here next week.”

When they got back to their bunker, Jet felt bad about not telling his friends the truth. “Who knows what they think happened to me?”

“We couldn’t tell them in there,” Azula reasoned. “If they come next week, we can try to meet them at their camp."

Hama still thought it was stupid that they started a band. “How long can you get away with wearing those stupid masks?”

“The music industry is the only one that would let us wear these stupid masks,” Haru retorted. “And we can get travel papers really quickly if people hire us to play.”

Music seemed to be the one talent they all shared. Azula had been trained to sing like every good princess. She could also play the piano. Jet was on guitar, Haru on base and Chin could drum like a devil. Hama was their manager.

Hama was not too excited about their career path, but it would have to do for now.

They practiced underground, so no one would know where they lived.

Smellerbee didn’t know why, but the guitarist for the Lychee Nuts felt really familiar to her.

“Is it me or did he remind you of someone?” she asked Longshot.

“He was good. I think I’d remember if I knew a guitarist that good.”

Smellerbee frowned. “You have a point.” Jet was decent, but he didn’t have that guy’s stage presence.

* * *

 

Before they knew it, a week had passed. They were all excited to see the Lychee Nuts again, especially the Duke. Maybe this guy could teach him how to play the guitar.

Word travelled quickly about the up and coming band. They decided to do new songs for tonight. First, they did Fell in Love with a Girl and after it was Don’t Stop Me Now.

Azula was having fun as a rock singer. She hadn’t been much of a fan of classical singing as a child. She balked when Jet suggested she be the lead singer for the band, but it was working surprisingly well. She and Chin wrote a lot of the lyrics while Haru and Jet worked more on the instrumental side.

Hama usually bitched that they were making too much noise. She was a kooky, old, lion bat, but she was amusing to say the least.

Longshot and Smellerbee were dancing together.

The post-war world needed more dancing and more music. There was still a lot of hesitation and conflict in the year after the world ended. Tonight was a night to let go.

After they got paid, the band suggested that they hangout outside somewhere.

The Freedom Fighters decided to invite them to their camp and Pipsqueak bought some beer along the way.

“Why do you wear the masks?” the Duke asked them.

Jet took his off. “Because I’m a kind of a fugitive.”

Longshot looked like he had seen a ghost. Smellerbee was pissed. She slapped him across the face, a perfect five-star.

“How could you let us think you died?”

“It wasn’t exactly my choice.” He said as he rubbed his face. He explained how he woke up in the hospital and got forcibly taken to the Fire Nation. “They kept me locked up in the loony bin until we all escaped together. I had no idea what happened to you guys until I saw you in the bar last week. I couldn’t take off my mask there, in case anyone else recognized me.

The Duke hugged him. “We missed you bro.”

“Who are your friends?” Longshot finally asked him.

“Meet Haru, a fellow Earth Kingdom national, Chin, a former royal guard from the Fire Nation, Hama, a waterbender from the Northern Water Tribe, and I think you’ve all heard of Azula.”

By now, their masks were off.

Smellerbee stared at her. “Is she the princess?”

“I doubt Zuko will let me keep my title, but yes, I’m that princess.”

“How the heck did you get here from the Fire Nation?”

Haru explained how they had gotten a ship and managed to dodge the navy long enough to get to East E.K. Base. “Azula forged papers using her brother’s letterhead, so we could get into the country without papers. Apparently, we’re diplomats or something.”

They had bought ostrich horses and instead of trying to cross the water, they went the long way around it until they got to Omashu. The trek took almost a month and “we sold the ostrich horses when we got to Omashu since their maintenance is expensive.”

“We spent the rest of the time setting up our bunker and trying to form a plan,” Jet continued.

“I’m not sure if my father is in the same house,” Haru told them. “I want to find him before the law finds us.”

“We can look for your dad,” the Duke offered. “Who is he?”

“Tyro.”

Longshot said, “I met him at the end of the war party last year. He thought you either got killed by the Fire Nation or ran away with a girl.”

Haru laughed. “I guess getting forcibly taken to a mental institution was not a likely possibility in his eyes.”

Smellerbee was stunned that Jet of all people had joined a band with the Fire Nation princess. Later, she asked him if working with Azula was a good idea.

“I wasn’t sure about her at all when she first got there. I mean she was really nuts, but I wouldn’t be here without her. She helped Haru and Hama bend again, so we could break out. She used her money to get us here, when she could have just said, let’s split up and go our separate ways.

I don’t know what she was like during the war, and I’m sure we would have tried to kill each other if we had met then, but I have to believe she’s different now. Could you picture anyone from the Fire Nation breaking you out of an asylum?”

“I guess I couldn’t. We missed you so much Jet.” Smellerbee hugged him.

“I missed you all too, and you’re doing a good job. You should stay in charge.”

“You aren’t going to join us again?”

He shook his head. “I’ll just get you in trouble. I have to find my own path and I best do it with the other outlaws.”

Smellerbee was disappointed, but she understood. She knew it would be a huge risk to take him with them. She was glad that he was okay and hopeful that they would see each other again, eventually.


	11. I Missed You!

It took some time, but eventually, the Freedom Fighters were able to track down Tyro. As it turned out, he was a distant relative of King Bumi and was next in line for the throne.

He had been living in the palace, getting trained to be a sovereign.

The guards wouldn’t let Longshot in at first, but eventually he convinced them that there was information that Tyro would want to hear. “It’s about what happened to his son. He went missing over a year ago.”

The guards carefully escorted Longshot to a room in the palace. The room was huge, green, silver and black and adorned with large vases and statues.

Tyro came into the room. “Longshot, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

“Thank you for giving me the time, Prince?”

“Oh just call me Tyro,” he told him.

“I found your son. He’s alive.”

“WHAT?” Tyro rushed forward. “Where is he? Is he okay?”

“He is, and he has a story you should hear. Can you leave the palace tonight?” Longshot left Tyro directions on how to find his son. “8PM.”

Tyro had all kinds of thoughts in his head. Where had his son been all this time? Why did he wait until now to seek out his father? Had he been captured or something? If he had been a prisoner of war, he should have been released at the war’s end. This all made little sense.

Haru went to meet his father alone. He needed to know how his father would respond to him before he introduced his friends.

They met at a cave.

Tyro hugged his son. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

Tyro had been Haru’s anchor. He knew he’d find him someday.

“I had a rough year Dad.”

The earthbender had to explain to his father his capture and detainment by the Fire Nation.

“You were in an asylum?” No one had told him.

“Yeah, but instead of treating their patients, they just beat them and take notes instead.” He went through the 14 months of abuse that he experienced. “I knew I had to get out of there, and when I got my chance, I broke out with some friends from the asylum.”

Tyro’s eyes got large. “Are they (crazy)?”

“No. Well Hama’s crazy, but she doesn’t need to be committed (I think). We snuck out in August and made our way to the East E.K. Base by boat and then to Omashu by ostrich horse.”

“What are you doing for money?”

“We started a band. We play with masks so no one sees our faces, and we get paid every week.”

“And you live?”

“Underground.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why don’t you come to the palace?”

“Because we’re fugitives, Dad. If we come with you, Bumi will have to tell the Fire Lord we’re here, and it’s going to be a political disaster.”

Tyro made a fist. “I want to give him hell for what they did to you.”

“And you can, but our ‘leader’ wants to get the evidence we took to Ba Sing Se University first. She thinks if we can show proof of what the asylum was doing to people, that we could get amnesty from Kuei and not have to worry about the Fire Nation coming after us here.”

“Why Ba Sing Se University?”

“They apparently are the leading university for mental health issues.”

The father frowned. “You don’t want to leave your friends behind.”

“I can’t. We’re all in this together. I’ll come home when I can, but I have to see this through.”

“I understand. Can I at least bring you some money, so I know you’re not going to starve on me.”


	12. Still No Trace

***  
November 101AG

Azula had been gone three months. 

“We found everyone in the asylum except for the five who stayed on the fifth floor,” Jing reported to the Fire Lord, “which means she’s either out of sight or she has a new identity.”

“What’s the difference?”

“What I mean, my Lord, is that she could have cut her hair or worn a disguise, or she’s hiding out in a bunker. We don’t know if she’s out and about or not.”

Kuei’s men couldn’t find them either. There was a lot of land on the east coast of his nation. She could have disembarked anywhere from the Abbey to Gaoling assuming she went to the continent at all. With that much ground to cover and an unclear arrival time, there wasn’t much chance.

The warriors combed Kyoshi Island, but they weren’t hiding there.

Ember Island, Whale tail Island, and every other island had been searched. She vanished like a phantom.

“If she’s not in a major city,” Jing started, “then she’s likely hiding in a small town or in between towns. They could be hunting for food and building their own shelters. With a master waterbender and a master earthbender, she could survive in the wilderness for years.”

Zuko did not like that at all. “Remind me why I haven’t fired you again?”

“Because looking for Azula is a thankless job that no one wants.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. No one else could dedicate himself to the search for long. Aang and Katara had to go back to work. Sokka had to help with his tribe. The warriors were … wait, where were the warriors?

Zuko decided to write to Suki and see if the girls could take the assignment. 

A week later, Suki came to the Fire Nation to discuss the arrangement. 

“If you’re worried about money, I can pay your girls handsomely.”

“It’s not just money. We’re a man down with Ty Lee gone.”

“How long is she gone for?”

“A year!” Suki complained. It’s not every day that a girl gets a big inheritance and an offer to sail around the world, but Suki wished it had happened to someone else or after Ty Lee had aged out of the warriors. Instead, they lost their best fighter in her prime.

“She left in September right.”

“Yes.” Technically, it was only 10 months, so she would be back in July, but still. It really sucked having her gone.

“I never even heard of her great Uncle Tin.”

“She barely remembered him, but apparently he’d visit her family and Ty Lee was his favorite, so she got the bulk of the estate.”

“I’m sure her family loved that.”

“Her father threatened to sue her when he found out.” 

Ty Lee had the option of taking the trip or taking the value in coins. She figured she’d take the trip since her father couldn’t get it once she had already gone.

“Sounds like a happy family.”

“Aren’t they all in the Fire Nation?”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Low blow.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was a good blow.”

“Have you heard from your uncle?”

“He hasn’t heard anything about Azula in Ba Sing Se. He doesn’t think she’d go there, since he’s there and she’d be quite recognizable. Apparently, they sell a Conqueror Azula collectors doll in all the gift shops.”

“Wow,” Suki said dryly.

“I know right.”

“Maybe people use them as voodoo dolls.”

Zuko laughed. “See I would buy one.”

Two weeks later, Suki and her girls combed over the asylum once again. Suki examined the cell. “Were there any signs of forced entry?” She didn’t see anything wrong with the lock.

“No. We believe Haru earthbended them out.”

“Why wouldn’t he have done that earlier?”

Jing looked at her. “We gave them bending suppressants each day, so they couldn’t. He must have found a way to earthbend through it.”

“Or the waterbender made a water key.”

“That’s possible, but we restricted her water.”

“She didn’t get water?”

“She got it, but in small rations and we made sure she drank it as soon as she got it.”

Suki noticed Hama’s cell had crumbling stone. “Could she have pulled the water out of these rocks?” They looked different than the other cells.

Jing hadn’t thought of that. “I suppose she could have done that.”

Suki frowned. Everything was conjecture. 

The guards who had been locked in the cell didn’t even see it coming. They just found themselves inside.

“Jet took their keys, and they were stuck until the new guards came the next day.”

“Why did they have to work 24 hours straight?”

“They were supposed to switch off every 6 hours, but they were to be here the whole day. They had the least seniority.”

Suki didn’t have such policies with her girls. It made people resentful. She’d rather reward hard work and achievements than how long they had stuck around. No reason to keep a bump on a log. “And how could they have left the island?”

“By boat or sky ship, but the air force didn’t see a sky ship and the coast guard didn’t see a boat.”

“So no one saw anything useful?”

“Basically.”

Suki rolled her eyes. “Can I talk to the doctor?”

Dr. Suh was a very quiet man. He hadn’t been able to talk for almost a month after he had been attacked and he hadn’t talked much before then anyway.

“Can you tell me what happened when the prisoners escaped?”

“They were patients,” the doctor corrected. “None of them had been convicted of any crime.”

“Can you tell me what happened when the patients escaped?”

The doctor poured himself some tea. “I had been sleeping in my home, and I woke up to Hama dumping ice water on me. Haru earthbended me into a bunker under my home, and they strung me up by my feet and took turns punching and beating me with a giant stick. Azula burned off my clothes. Hama started to whip me with an ice whip, and Jet punched me in the face, repeatedly until my jaw was shattered and then they left me there, underground, and it was almost a week before anyone found me. I’m not sure how I didn’t die of dehydration. It might have helped that I lost consciousness from the pain.”

His telling of events was so clinical, it almost sounded fake. He did, however, have the medical record to prove it.

“And do you know why your patients would go through such lengths to make you suffer?”

“Well, they have been in captivity for over a year, and they surely blame me for it, since I’m the one who decides whether or not they can go and none of them were discharged.”

“Why weren’t they?”

“Excuse me?”

“If they planned an escape and managed to stay hidden for over three months, it would suggest that at least some of them were sane, but you didn’t report that any of them showed significant improvement over the past year. Why is that?”

“Some of them were facing criminal charges for the war. I must assume that they faked their insanity so that they could avoid trial just to break out when our guard was down.”

“And you can’t tell fake psychosis from people who are really crazy?”

“What are you getting at?”

“What I’m getting at is maybe Azula paid you to help them get out. You did and when you wanted money, or perhaps more money, they decided to beat you instead and take off.” Suki wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t trust this doctor at all.

The doctor refused to answer any more questions.

The nurse was even less cooperative. “I already answered the blind girl and the bald boy; why are you here?”

“Well they couldn’t find the missing patients, so I am looking for them.”

“What do you got that they don’t? Better tits?”

Suki rolled her eyes. “What happened the night of the escape?”

“They strung me up and kicked my ass. Azula left a nice burn mark on my back.” On her back it said, I beat people for fun. 

“Did you beat people for fun?” Suki asked.

“Of course not,” the nun lied.

“She must have burned that into you for a reason.”

“Why don’t you ask her about her reasons?” The nurse shut the door. 

Well, that wasn’t very informative.

Suki returned to the palace to search through the evidence. First, she went through the evidence log.

“We have one broken compass, three map fragments, what could be some kind of schedule, and one letter.”

“Where’s the letter?” one of the warrior’s asked.

It wasn’t there.

Suki asked Zuko for it.

He forked it over.

Suki’s eyes widened when she read this. “Is this true?”

“I don’t know.”

“Azula burned a message into the nurse’s back. ‘I beat people for fun’ it said.”

Zuko didn’t know about it. “She never told me.” The nurse had let it slip when Suki interviewed her. 

“Why would Azula burn such a message unless it was true?”

Zuko shrugged. “I don’t know why she left anything in the cell. I figured she was trying to confuse me.”

It worked, Suki thought. This is quite confusing. 

The warriors had a brainstorming session.

“Where could Azula be?” Suki wrote on the board.

“Still in the Fire Nation,” was one guess. If she had kept moving or was hiding in a bunker, she could have evaded the military.

“In the Earth Kingdom,” was another possibility, which was a lot of territory.

“In one of the abandoned Air Temples,” was a third possibility. 

“Has anyone searched them?” a girl asked.

The warriors found no one in the Western Air Temple and only Guru Pathik in the Eastern one. He offered them onion-banana juice, but they respectfully declined.

Aang was in the Southern Air Temple, so he would have found them if they were there and the Northern one only had like 40 people, so they would have been obvious.

Suki reported back to Zuko. “We’re stuck with either the Fire Nation or the Earth Kingdom. We searched the air temples and I assume you had the tribes check to be sure.”

“Actually, they’re still mad at me, and we don’t talk much, but it’s not like they could live in the ice.”

Suki frowned. “No, but they could have stayed on a boat and be sailing around the unpopulated parts of one of the poles.”

Zuko sent letters to both Chiefs asking them to stay on high alert for Azula and her cohorts.

Hakoda had learned of her escape from Sokka, but Arnook was not amused that he was finding out so late in the game.

He sent a sternly worded letter to Zuko, chastising him for not telling him that the world’s most dangerous war criminal was on the loose and had been for months.

Zuko felt like a child when he read it.


	13. Uncle Iroh

December 101AG

Azula and her group were in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se. They were cramped into a tiny apartment, trying to escape the dreadful cold.

Azula could heatbend to stay warm, but outside was too icy for the others, so they came into the lower ring.

With Jet’s street smarts, they were able to find a landlord who would rent them a place, no names no contract. They paid him in coins at the beginning of each week.

“What is your master plan?” Haru questioned. “Just go into the university and ask for their help.”

“No,” Azula said. She wasn’t going to go to the university at all.

She took the binders of evidence that they had stolen from the doctor’s office and proceeded to sneak into the Upper Ring.

Her uncle had never liked her, but she hoped that he was a good enough person to realize that she did not deserve the treatment she had received.

Unfortunately, Azula would not find out what he thought anytime soon. Iroh had gone to the Fire Nation to visit Zuko, leaving Jin in charge. She offered to take the documents, but instead, Azula decided to deliver them to his house.

Fire Nation

Iroh knew that Zuko had been having a rough year, especially with Azula’s vanishing without a trace. He came to see if he could help with anything.

“It’s good to see you Iroh,” Zuko said as his uncle hugged him.

“Zuko, how are you holding up?”

Zuko looked tired and lost. “Not so great. Azula hasn’t been seen by anyone.” There had been reported sightings, but they had all been false alarms. Once, the military apprehended the actress who played her in the play on Ember Island before the war ended. She threatened to sue after an officer had supposedly groped her.

“How have you searched for her?”

“Every way possible.” He used his navy, his air force, and his army. “The Avatar came. Katara came. Toph and Sokka and the warriors all tried to help. “No one can find her.”

“Have you tried Ty Lee? Maybe she tried to contact her.” Iroh didn’t know whom else she could have gone to.

Zuko sighed. “I wrote to her. She says she hasn’t heard from her. I even sent a navy ship to follow her a bit in case she was lying, but it came up clean. No Azula.”

“Why would you follow Ty Lee with a boat?”

Iroh didn’t know. “Ty Lee is sailing on a trip around the world, starting and ending in Kyoshi Island.”

“Wow. I didn’t hear about that. Is it for work or …?”

“No. She got some inheritance and apparently her kooky great uncle planned the trip for her.”

“Oh that’s a lovely surprise.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I’m at a loss.”

“Did you investigate the loyalists?”

“I did and nothing came up. No suspicious money transfers or weird activity in the homes, I had people check, repeatedly, for months.” The government had been threatened with a harassment suit if they didn’t either show cause or go away.

Iroh frowned. Maybe Azula went to start anew somewhere else. “Maybe you should suspend the search.”

“Give up?”

“Don’t give up, but maybe scale it back. This must be expensive.”

It was costing an arm and a leg each day. “Yeah it is.”

“And the country needs the money for other work. If she acts up, you’ll find her quickly.”

Zuko frowned. His uncle had a point.

* * *

 

Mai was glad to see him. “Did you talk any sense into Zuko?”

“I’m trying,” Iroh said with a laugh. “How have you been Mai?”

“Other than the political fallout from Azula’s escape, we’re doing just fine.”

“The other leaders were upset.”

“They were mad that we lost her, and we didn’t tell them right away.”

“You didn’t?”

“Zuko thought we could find them without any help. We didn’t.”

“Them?”

“She escaped with her whole cell block. No one’s found any of them.”

“Have you tried looking for the other members?” Maybe they had relatives.

“Chin had no family,” Mai said. “Hama didn’t either. Haru only has his dad who’s in the palace. Bumi would have spotted them if they were hiding there and Jet was a Freedom Fighter. They have no real home, and no one saw the escapees in Omashu, which is where the Freedom Fighter’s base is. We got nothing.”

Azula was a smart one. “She must have planned where to go and how to get there in advance.”

Mai groaned. “I’m sick of talking about her. Tell me about your life, Iroh.”

There wasn’t much to report. The old man was running his teashop. He had no love life or anything of interest. “I’m just trying to adjust to a life without war.”

“Aren’t we all?”

* * *

 

He went to visit Piando next.

The old swordsman was making a new sword when he heard his bell ring. “Who could that be?”

He got the door.

“Iroh!”

“Piando, how are you?”

“I’m good and yourself.”

“I can’t complain. I thought I’d check in while I’m in the country.”

“Staying at the palace?”

“Yes.”

Piando couldn’t believe it when he learned Azula escaped. “Your niece sure keeps things interesting.”

Iroh shrugged. “No one can find her. It’s like she disappeared.”

“Maybe she got a new face.”

“What?”

“From the Mother of Faces. Maybe she got a new face.”

Iroh hadn’t thought about a spirit. “If she went to a spirit for help, who knows where she is or even who she is?”

Iroh wasn’t sure if he should mention it to Zuko right away. The boy might go on a wild goose chase over nothing.

“Maybe that’s why no one found her. Maybe she doesn’t remember being Azula.”

Sad as it would be to say out loud, that was a comforting thought. Azula had always had a sinister edge to him, one that Iroh found quite troubling. “Maybe she found peace.” That was a more pleasant thought.

The Prince didn’t give it much thought until he returned home and found a package. He opened it to see a letter on top of a stack of binders.


	14. Strength

“Dear Iroh

By the time you get this letter, I will have already left the city. I can’t stay in one place too long lest I get recognized. I was hoping to tell you this in person, but you weren’t here, so I wrote a letter instead.

Inside these binders are the medical records that Dr. Suh kept on the patients at the asylum. If you read them, you will find that he was trying to find a cure for PTSD by inducing it into his patients and then testing experimental cures on them. Every Sunday, I was beaten and battered while the doctor watched and took notes. He was trying to get me to break down again, so he could test experimental cures on me.

I refused to give him the satisfaction. My colleagues were beaten as well. We each got a different day. I don’t know how he handled the other patients, but I must assume that their care did not meet medical muster.

I didn’t leave these files for Zuko because I was unsure what all he knew about Dr. Suh’s conduct, and I didn’t trust him to report himself for failing to adequately supervise the doctor and the nurse at the asylum.

I know we have never gotten along before, and although much of that is my fault, I can’t help but think that I never had a fair chance when it came to either you or my mother. I am asking you, however, to put these differences aside and make copies of all of these records. Keep one copy for yourself and take the other copy to Dr. Nong.

He is the leading expert on psychological trauma and he teaches at Ba Sing Se University. He is the best qualified to assess these records and determine if Dr. Sun’s conduct was medically appropriate. I am sure that he will not reach that conclusion.

Unfortunately, I cannot verify these records for you, but I am sure an expert can prove that they were made with the doctor’s hand and perhaps one of the guards would be willing to testify as to his observations in the asylum, maybe not as it could cost him his job. If I had stayed, then the scars on my body would have been proof enough.

I don’t know if or when we will see each other next, but if it were to happen, I would like to think that things have changed and what happened to the others and me will never happen to anyone in the Fire Nation again.

I trust that you will do what you think is right. I wish, however, I actually knew what that was in these circumstances. All I can have is hope.

Best,

Azula

* * *

 

Iroh was baffled after he read the letter. Out of all of the people in the world, she had tried to come to him. She must have been desperate.

The binders were thick. Each one documented a few months of treatment. He started with his niece. The reports were harrowing.

_10th of August 101AG_

Patient suffers from hallucinations and violent outburst. She may be suffering from psychosis. It should not be hard to break her.

Patient was strapped to the board. Nurse Yu Rong inflicted injuries to patient for approximately 15 minutes. Patient refused to scream or cry. She stayed silent the entire time.

She has more resilience than I thought.

_17th of August 101AG_

Again, the patient refused to scream. She still screams in her cell according to the guards, but she refuses to show any emotion to the Nurse at all.

The Nurse was angry about patient’s refusal to submit. Her beating was extra harsh today.

As Iroh read the documents, they got worse and worse. They tormented her about her friends’ betrayal, her mother’s disappearance, and the agni kai. They tried to make her relive all of her failures while they abused her. She refused to break. Instead she broke out.

A tear fell out of the old man’s eye as he realized his troublesome niece was perhaps the strongest person he had ever known. He put the binder away. He would have them copied and take them to Dr. Nong. He would make sure that the doctor and nurse responsible answered for this. He just wished he could do more.


	15. The Truth Comes Out

January 102AG

Dr. Nong was surprised when Iroh wanted to meet with him. He had just come back from winter break and was about to start his new semester.

“Are you suffering from PTSD?” Many soldiers were and the man had lost his son in the war. He had been on the front lines with him.

“No. Have you heard of my niece, Azula?”

“The conqueror? Everyone has, why?”

“She escaped from an asylum about five months ago. She brought her medical records, and those from the other patients, to me and she wanted you to evaluate them and see if they had received appropriate medical care.”

The doctor frowned. “What was she diagnosed with?”

“She had a mental breakdown of some sort when Sozin’s Comet arrived. I don’t know if they determined a medical cause or if that determination had been correct. From what I can tell, the doctor had one set of reports he had given to the Fire Lord, and a secret set of files that he kept for himself. She must have stolen them when she escaped.”

The doctor thought for a moment. “If she stole the records to have them brought to me, she hardly sounds mentally imbalanced. Most people wouldn’t have known who to find much less how to get the records here.”

“I suspect that she became cured of whatever struck her long before she escaped. She must have waited for the correct time.”

“I see, well I’ll take a look and see what I can tell you, but it will be hard to evaluate them without the doctor who actually treated her.”

Iroh nodded and handed over the binders.

“That’s a lot of paperwork.”

“Yes it is.” Iroh had to pay good money to get someone to copy it all. He also got weird looks when he went to pick it up. He lied and said it was for a fictional novel.

* * *

 

It didn’t take the doctor a long time to gasp. “They did what?” There were all kinds of treatment for PTSD, talk therapy, therapy pets, cannabis, tinctures and potions, waterbending the mind to name the most common ones. Beating the hell out of the patient was never one of them. In the past, people thought they could beat physical illness out of people like a demon, but he had never heard of that being used for mental health, especially not in this era.

What the doctor didn’t tell Iroh was that the Earth Kingdom had a mandatory reporter law. As soon as he suspected abuse, he had an obligation to report it to the authorities.

The doctor contacted the Ba Sing Se police force and explained what he had found out.

Toph had been sent to respond. “So you’re telling me that the doctor and the nurse used their patients as punching bags.”

“Yes. Apparently, he was trying to find a cure for PTSD and he thought if he induced it in his patients, then he could test the various cures on them and see what worked.”

Toph took a breath. No wonder they all escaped together. Toph had been trying to figure out why the others would have trusted Azula. Toph would have trusted Azula tooif she had been in this miserable place for a year.

Unfortunately, Toph was at a loss for what to do about it. “These aren’t crimes that I can arrest for. This all happened in the Fire Nation.”

“I’m aware of that, but I have to report it to the local police or I could lose my license.”

This was really a diplomatic issue. “I’ll have to make sure the King is informed.”

Toph reported to her boss who reported to the Council of Five who reported to Kuei. The King was livid. “You mean they beat my people and to try to make them mentally ill.”

“These are all allegations, by a crazy Fire Nation princess,” General How warned.

“Well she ain’t so crazy if she got out, and you couldn’t find her to save your life!”

The General gulped. They had tried to support the Fire Nation’s search for the Princess, but she could not be found anywhere.

The King demanded Zuko answer him as to how this happened and what he was going to do to punish the offenders.


	16. Backlash

February 102 AG

“I’ve never even seen these reports,” Zuko complained once he got the complaints. “How do I know if they’re true?”

“I’m sure we can compare them to the reports he wrote to you. Either they are in the same hand or they are not.”

Zuko nodded. “We’ll have an expert compare them.”

When Zuko did get a copy of the reports, he sent them to an expert who verified that the same hand wrote them as the hand that wrote the reports Zuko had received on his sister.

“You can see how his handwriting aged over the year.” The expert said in his analysis.

Zuko gulped. “This is going to be a disaster.”

* * *

 

Once word got out that the Fire Nation asylum had tortured people, the backlash was devastating.

The New Ozai capitalized on the scandal, demanding answers as to why their nation’s princess was still missing and how she could have faced such abuse without anyone knowing about it or doing anything.

For many in the nation, Azula was a war hero. She brought Ba Sing Se to its knees. She shot the Avatar. Even after the war, the Fire Nation prided itself on strength and firebending prowess, and she was the ultimate symbol of it.

People started demanding to know who was responsible for supervising them, when did Zuko find out what they had done, and what was he going to do to punish them. Family members started demanding transparency and financial damages.

Zuko insisted that the health minister was responsible and that minister claimed the Fire Lord was to blame.

“The health minister hasn’t been responsible for the asylum since they started putting supposedly crazy war criminals in it. The war minister had taken over and since Zuko disbanded the position, he was responsible for appointing a new person to supervise. His failure to do so caused the problem.”

* * *

 

Before, the only people calling for him to step down were Ozai’s cronies. Now, various human rights groups were calling for his ouster as well.

“He promised us peace and prosperity. Instead, he sat by while his asylum tortured people, and he’s brought us to financial ruin with his mishandling of the war aftermath.” People were calling on Iroh to come home and take the throne. “He’s the only heir left.”

Iroh came home to try and support his nephew. They had a press conference “I know this is horrible, but we’re doing our best to fix this.”

“When did you know about the abuse?”

“When my niece sent me a package. I received it in January.”

“YOU WHAT?” Zuko didn’t know about it.

 _Oops!_ Iroh forgot that he hadn’t told Zuko about any of this.

“How could you not tell me?” Zuko complained when they were alone.

“I know I should have, but I had to find out for myself what was going on. She asked me to take the files to a doctor, so he could evaluate them. I was more worried about her medical care than I was about looking for her,” he admitted.

“You don’t think I was worried about that too?” Zuko questioned.

“When did you first learn that there might have been abuse at the asylum?”

Zuko frowned. “A few days after I learned she had escaped.”

“And what did you do to investigate?”

Zuko looked down. “Nothing,” he mumbled.

“Nothing?” _How could he do nothing?_

“I was trying to find her.”

“Figuring out why she left would have helped.” If he had tried to fix the asylum and offered to make this right, she might have come home on her own.

The two men argued, each blaming the other for the mess.

Mai broke it up.

“LOOK!” The men turned to her. “We all could have done things differently. Zuko, you could have looked into this matter earlier and perhaps if you had, you wouldn’t have people calling for your ouster. Iroh, you should have come to us when you got the files and we could have tried to investigate before this blew up, but we’re past the point of arguing.

Now, we have to deal with some angry world leaders who want to know what you are going to do to remedy this situation. There were Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe nationals in that asylum.”

Zuko groaned, yet another international debacle.

March 102 AG

The summit was in Ba Sing Se.

Aang had come with Katara. Hakoda had come with Sokka. Arnook came with one of his Councilmen. Kuei was with General How and Zuko was with Mai and Iroh.

Aang hoped this wasn’t too terrible. “So, let’s begin. I believe we know why we’re all here, but this meeting has been called to discuss the asylum that was operating during and after the war on Skulls Island and concerns about possible human rights violations. Kuei you have the floor.”

“Thank you, Aang. As you are all aware, five patients from this asylum escaped in August. From what I have learned, they alleged abuse and torture at the hands of the doctor and nurse who ran the asylum and released all of the inmates to make a statement, drawing the world’s attention to the problems in the facility.

However, this did not work as intended when Zuko decided not to tell anyone that the patients had escaped, much less why they had released the other patients. Only after he failed to find them, did he start to notify the other leaders, and that’s when I learned that some of my nationals were being housed involuntarily in the Fire Nation, allegedly receiving mental health care.

I demanded my nationals be sent to Gaoling with their medical records, but the doctor had redacted much of the files. He claimed he had a pecuniary interest in his treatment methods and refused to explain what all he had been doing to them for all this time.

Last Month, I received a report that the medical files had been brought to Ba Sing Se by one of the escaped patients and after Dr. Nong examined them, he determined that the treatment they had received was nothing short of abusive.

They not only did not receive appropriate medical care, but also Dr. Suh had tried to give the patients PTSD, so he could find a cure and make money treating all of the war veterans suffering from these ailments.

As I am sure Zuko realizes, this asylum was financed by the state and was subject to the Four Nations Treaty Prohibiting Torture and the Four Nations Treaty on Human Rights. I think it is clear that the asylum’s conduct and furthermore Zuko’s failure to supervise them or prevent this conduct resulted in several violations of both treaties, and there must be an appropriate punishment to deter such conduct.”

* * *

 

Hakoda had a question. “Where are the doctor and nurse responsible for the asylum? Why aren’t they here?”

Zuko frowned. “We asked them to appear, and they seem to have flown the coop.”

“You didn’t arrest them!” Arnook yelled. “You knew that they strapped people to boards and beat them, and you thought they would appear on their word!”

People were up in arms.

“To be fair,” Mai interrupted, “he requested that they appear before we had received the medical records or could have them authenticated, so we didn’t know at the time that the allegations were true.”

“But you knew about the allegations for months,” Aang told her. “I knew about them in August. What did you do from August until February to investigate them?”

“I focused on trying to find my sister,” Zuko said.

“So you did jack shit,” How said bluntly. When he learned that one of the victims was Prince Haru, he quickly changed his tune about the entire affair.

Everyone started yelling. Aang tried to calm them down. Eventually, he used his airbending to whistle really loudly.

“Alright. I think we can all agree that Zuko dropped the ball. The question is how do we fix it now?”

“We need a real doctor to evaluate these patients, well the ones he didn’t lose,” Hakoda said dryly.

“Dr. Nong has offered his services along with his clinic,” King Kuei added.

“Alright, have the patients evaluated and then?”

“Offer them medical care?” Katara suggested.

“I think it should be voluntary,” Iroh added. “Committing people has not worked so well.”

“We should also involve the families,” General How added. “Many of them did not even realize their loved ones had been committed. Prince Tyro feared his son was dead.”

“Prince who?” Arnook questioned.

“Bumi’s cousin and heir apparent to the throne. His son had escaped with Azula and the others.”

“You had a prince in your asylum, and you let his happen?” Arnook questioned.

Things went from bad to worse.

Zuko insisted that he had done his best when General How said, “if this is your best, son then you best resign before your people kill you.”

Mai was livid. They had already had three more assassination attempts this year.

She had her stilettos out, and he had a hammer.

Aang quickly separated them.

“We all need to move forward, together. If we don’t, then this could descend into chaos.”

“Funny you should say that,” Arnook commented. “Zuko was content to keep this all to himself when it was early in the game and we could have done something about it. Now that he’s about to lose his throne, he’s looking for a world solution. Maybe he should consider treating his allies with respect if he wants to keep them.”

If Arnook was going to forgive Zuko for failing to prosecute the Northern and Southern Raiders, he was not inclined to do so now. The abuse of his people continued after the war, and Zuko did nothing about it.

Hakoda and Arnook both walked out on the summit.

Aang put his head on the table. How the hell is he supposed to solve the riots and get all of these people to get along?

Katara had some questions for her friend after the meeting.

“How did this all get so bad?”

Zuko admitted that, “I really had no idea who was in charge of monitoring the asylum. I assumed the health minister dealt with it, but apparently no one was. Azula had alleged abuse, but she always lies, so I really didn’t think much of it until I got an angry letter from Kuei six months later. I know everyone thinks I’m this terrible person who doesn’t care about anyone, but I’m trying to keep my head above water.

Every time I turn around, someone is trying to get rid of me and I’m just trying to fix what my family broke over 100 years.”

Katara took a breath. “I know you mean well, but this is really bad. I’ve only seen my dad walk out of negotiations twice, and they were both because of you.”

Zuko frowned. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“I would start with tracking down that doctor and putting him in jail.”

Zuko nodded. “I’ll have to do that. My own people are calling for my ouster because of this.”


	17. The Lychee Nuts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lao Bei Fong discovers the Lychee Nuts.

April 102AG

The Lychee Nuts were becoming increasingly popular as the spring came. The group was doing outdoor concerts. They had no venue to charge people, but Hama had a cup to collect coins as people paid what they thought the band was worth. Surprisingly, they paid a good deal.

The band had performed along the south of the Earth Kingdom, visiting Chin Village and other towns before making their way down to Gaoling so they could set sail for new places.

They had three new songs. Everybody Talks, Kids, and Burn.

Lao Bei Fong was coming home from a business trip one day when he heard them playing.

“Stop the carriage. What’s that sound?”

He went out to investigate and saw an old hag collecting money from the spectators.

There were easily a hundred people here.

Lao had an idea. If he could get this band in a stadium, they could get money from 100 rich patrons and he could get a nice sum.

He approached the woman. “Who is playing right now?”

“They’re the Lychee Nuts.”

What an odd name? “Why do they wear the masks?”

“They like to protect their anonymity. So fans don’t bother them and such.”

“I see.”

The crowd was dancing and cheering. The lead signer had good stage presence, dancing around the stage and getting the crowd very excited.

“What would you say if I could get them a large stage to play on?”

“How large?”

***

“This is a stupid idea,” Haru insisted. “If we play in front of a bunch of nobles, we might run into the kind of people who would recognize us.” Nobles all know about each other.

“This could be a big chunk of change,” Hama countered. “And no one’s recognized us so far, so what makes this place any different.”

Azula was torn. This was a good opportunity, but it was risky. “If we play our hand well, we could just hide in plain sight. “

Jet and Chin wanted to do the show, so Haru got outvoted.

“We’ll be sure to take a night ship out of the city,” Azula told Haru. “We won’t wait until morning.”

He just hoped that would be enough.

It was easy for Lao to get a venue and sell the tickets. All he did was tell each rich person he knew that another rich person was trying to get a box. They all tripped over each other trying to get the tickets.

“Did you want to go to the concert?” Poppy asked him.

Lao nodded. “Everyone else is going, and we have to make an appearance.”

“Is this like a classical band?”

“It’s a modern band.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You know, young people, jumping around, hitting their instruments too hard. What the teenagers listen to?”

“What?”

“Rich people love feeling hip even when they’re not. It’s an easy buck.”

She couldn’t argue with that. “Remember when Mrs. Fong thought she could pull off that string bikini.”

“I think her body swallowed it.”

Lao thought it was odd that the band never revealed their faces, not even to him. He was not some fan girl. He would not chase them around.

***

The audience had all of the well off people in the city. Master Yu was there as was Xin Fu. The latter man was hoping to find a way to make a quick buck. Rich people surrounded him. Something was bound to turn up.

They started off with the lights off. Suddenly a flash of light hit the stage as the band members started to turn around one by one.

When Chin hit the drums, they started to play Touch Me. The audience had never seen or heard anything like this before. The music was fast paced and edgy. The singer’s dance moves were salacious, her voice sultry and the band had this certain attitude to it, like it was mocking classical music by its very existence.

The crowd was stupefied. They had no idea what they had just paid to watch and didn’t know if they should applaud or run out the doors.

All it took was for one man to start cheering and then they were all cheering. The band thought their audience was odd. They were seated and watching at a concert. They were used to people dancing. These people probably had no idea how to dance, outside of classic waltzes.

The Lychee Nuts, on the other hand, were all about dancing. As they traveled to different places, they learned different dances. Dancing was the perfect way to be expressive without speaking, and when they were afraid that their voices might give them away, dancing became a great way to be in the social scene without revealing much about their identities. Who would expect to see the Fire Nation princess bumping and grinding in a club or shaking her ass on stage? The world was watching her, but it seemed oblivious.

Their set was an hour. This was not particularly long, but the audience was old and was used to getting out of concerts at a decent hour. Everyone was talking about them as they walked out the doors.

They didn’t know it, but the Lychee Nuts were about to be world famous.

***

Once the show was over, Lao paid them their salary and said to find him if they wanted to come back to Gaoling. He made a killing tonight.

Like Azula had promised, they left the city that night. They were going to tour the Earth Kingdom islands and then they had to decide where to go next.

Haru wanted to go back to Omashu and seek sanctuary in the palace. He thought his father could protect them now that the world knew what had happened to them at the asylum.

Azula was considering breaking away from the group, but she didn’t tell them. She was the only one who the Earth Kingdom might not be willing to protect. She might have to let her friends save themselves and make her own plan to continue hiding. She would re-evaluate when the time to decide came closer.

May 102AG

Dr. Shu was spotted at the market getting some eggs. He had been hiding in Yon Rha’s village. Zuko had made him public enemy number one, and several people had reported him to the authorities. He had been taken in without incident and lawyered up quickly, refusing to speak.

The nurse was captured at Ember Island. She had been working as a seamstress, but when Toph had come to the island to get a break from work, she recognized the woman and had her taken into custody.

At first, she had denied everything. “I never hurt anyone!” She kept this lie going for about a week.

Toph, however, insisted, “according to the doctor, you beat them while he took notes.”

“Of course he says that. He’s lying?”

“So you took the notes while he beat them.”

“Yes!”

“Then why are the notes in his hand?”

She started to cry, talking about how the doctor promised her a good job and he made her do it and she didn’t like it at all but she was afraid of getting in trouble.

Toph didn’t believe her story and neither did anyone else.

When she learned she was facing a 20-year minimum sentence, she hanged herself in her cell.

With the culprits caught and the remaining patients finally getting respectable medical care, Zuko finally seemed in a position to get over this political scandal. He promised that any detentions by the Fire Nation, whether they are for legal or medical reasons, would be watched with the utmost scrutiny. He was determined to show that he did care about his most vulnerable citizens.

Furthermore, he apologized to the other leaders for his blunders as he was trying to get a handle on being a sovereign. It was a long road, but it finally looked like there might be a happy ending for him.

June 102 AG

The Lychee Nuts found themselves on Kyoshi Island, throwing concerts in the various villages.

Azula was careful to avoid the center of the island, where the Warrior House was located.

Of course, Suki found out about them anyway. “Who are these people?” She asked around and eventually Koko told her. “They’re really cool. They play concerts on the beach or in the park and you can just go there and listen to them.”

Suki wondered when and how they got there. “Who organized this?”

Koko shrugged. “I think they just play.”

There was one way to find out who they were, go to their next concert.

Suki managed to find them on the western part of the island. She had never seen anything like it. People of all ages were dancing about as the loud music carried through the air.

The lead singer was singing “Don’t Stop Till You get Enough” and dancing along with the crowd.

Suki had to admit. They were good, very good.

Sokka had come with her. “Let’s dance!”

Azula noticed them in the crowd and knew she had to be very careful. After her encore of “I Want to Dance with Somebody and Everybody Talks,” she looked for the nearest egress points.

Unfortunately, Sokka and Suki cut her off.

“Why do y’all wear masks?”

“Our drummer has scarred face for the war,” Azula lied. “We wear them for solidarity, and so that we can go out in public without being stars.”

“I understand. Aang gets chased by loads of people all the time.”

“It’s nice just being normal.”

“When did you get here?” Suki questioned.

“Um last week. We’ve been touring the Earth Kingdom. We’re from Omashu.”

Azula made some small talk before she escaped.

“She seemed nice,” Sokka said.

“Yeah, but it’s kind of odd that she didn’t take off her mask after the show. It’s not like we were going to follow her around.”

“Maybe she’s just trying to keep up the hype. If no one’s seen them, I bet people try to figure out who they are all the time.”

It could be a marketing ploy. “I guess so.”

One week later

They reached end of the road. They could either go into the Fire Nation, which would be suicide, or they could go back to Omashu.

The band voted to go back. Azula realized that her time to decide was now. “I can’t go with you,” she said.

“What?” Haru questioned.

“You’re not going back to the Fire Nation,” Jet questioned.

Yes she is. “No,” Azula lied. “I have to do something.”

“Alone?” Chin questioned. “We haven’t left each other in 10 months.”

“I can’t bring you with me. It would be selfish for me to risk your safety when this is my fight.”

They argued but Azula refused to reveal where she was going or why.

Haru tried to talk to her afterwards. “What’s going on Azula?”

“Remember when you told me I had to find an anchor.”

“I do.”

“Well I did, and I will likely only have one chance to say how I feel. I have to take that chance, and I can’t ask everyone to risk capture for me.”

“So you are going into the Fire Nation.”

“Yes, I am,” she admitted.

Haru sighed. Everyone else had found the people in their lives whom mattered most, if they had them. “Do you love him?”

“I love her more than anything.”

Haru hugged her. “Then I wish you luck.”

The End.


End file.
